Barcelona realised they were unable to afford the signing of forward Antoine Griezmann from Atletico Madrid whenever the transfer had been processed.
The Catalan club triggered the Frenchman’s €120million (£103m) release clause at Atleti in the summer of 2019 –one of the most expensive signings of all time.
Barca’s payment for Griezmann has now been outlined by the club’s CEO Ferran Reverter, who is serving under the club’s current president Joan Laporta.
Reverter was not on the board at the time of Griezmann’s arrival – when Josep Maria Bartomeu was club president – but an internal audit has clarified the nature of the payments.
The club’s current CEO claims that Barca took out a loan of €85million (£73m) to secure the signing of the French forward because they could not afford the deal at the time.
He alleges that Barca’s board did not appear to be aware of their financial situation before completing the signing of the forward.
Reverter told reporters this week when explaining the club’s financial results: "We have the feeling that when they (the previous board) were signing players, they did not know if they could afford to sign them."
"That was the case for Griezmann, who on the night they signed him they realised that there was no money to pay for the transfer.
"They had to go looking for a loan of €85million to cover that signing."
Griezmann endured somewhat of an underwhelming stint at the Camp Nou, where he netted a respectable but unspectacular 35 goals across 102 appearances for the club.
The France international was the club’s second highest earner behind Lionel Messi and returned to Atleti this summer in a loan deal which includes a €40million obligation to buy.
Griezmann has returned to find immediate form back at Atleti, netting once – a Champions League win in Milan – in seven appearances to date.
On Wednesday, Barca confirmed record breaking losses of £410million for the 2020/21 campaign amid their ongoing financial crisis.
The Catalan giants presented their club accounts which show a revenue drop of £190million from the previous campaign while expenses rocketed to a tally of £965million.
It comes less than two months after the club president Joan Laporta confirmed that the overall debt stands at a whopping £1.15billion – a rise of £170million from January.
Last week, La Liga confirmed that Barca’s salary cap for the season was a relatively paltry £84million - a staggering fall of £212million from the previous campaign, and less than six other clubs in Spain’s top-flight.
Griezmann and Messi were among the multiple players to leave since the summer of 2020 alongside Luis Suarez, Ivan Rakitic, Arturo Vidal and Emerson Royal among the players to exit.
